The Lesson of the Master.

"You know as well as you sit there that you'd put a pistol-ball into your brain if you had written my books!" First Edition of Henry James' The Lesson of the Master

The Lesson of the Master.

James, Henry.

$175.00

Item Number: 78023

New York and London: Macmillan & Co, 1892.

First edition of this novella, which tells the story of a young writer, Paul Overt, who meets Henry St. George, a famous novelist Overt admires. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine. In near fine condition, contemporary name to the title page. A very sharp example with the spine gilt fresh.

Exemplifying Henry James's famous belief that "Art makes life," The Lesson of the Master is a piercing study of the life that art makes. When the tale's protagonist—a gifted young writer—meets and befriends a famous author he has long idolized, he is both repelled by and attracted to the artist's great secret: the emotional costs of a life dedicated to art.

Price:
$35.00

First edition of this parable of how people shape appearances into an explanation of an impossibly complex world. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine, front panel. Contemporary bookplate, in near fine condition with light toning.

Price:
$40.00

First editions of James’ entertaining account of Story’s life in Rome” (Encyclopedia Brittanica). Octavo, original gilt-stamped green cloth, top edges gilt, photogravure frontispiece. In near fine condition, small contemporary bookplates to the front pastedown. BAL 10655.

First edition of James’ classic novel of a girl coming of age in high English society at the turn of the 20th century. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine and front panel. In very good condition.

Price:
$125.00

First American edition, limited to 2,000 copies of this collection of James’s travel essays on English towns and villages. Octavo, original cloth. With Illustrations by Joseph Pennell. In near fine condition with a touch of rubbing. A very sharp example.

Price:
$50.00

First edition of this series of literary essays written in James’ earlier style. Octavo, original cloth, gilt titles to the spine, gilt topstain. Introduction by Le Roy Phillips. In near fine condition. A very bright example.

First American edition, second issue of this dark comedy, which Henry James considered his finest work. Octavo, original cloth, gilt topstain. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by Henry James with a quotation from the novel in James’ hand on a Bryn Mawr book label, “Henry James November 30th 1905 ‘….a fine worn handsome face, a face that was like an open letter in a foreign tongue’ The Ambassadors.” James visited America in 1904-05, where he addressed Bryn Mawr twice. It is possible James was asked to donate a copy of one of his books for the Bryn Mawr Christmas bookfair to raise funds for the college. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with light rubbing to the extremities. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A unique example.

First edition of the last and most accomplished work of fiction during James’ apprentice years. Octavo, original cloth. First edition, first issue with 1882 on title page and “1881.” on copyright page. In near fine condition with light rubbing. A very nice example.

First British edition of James’ classic biographical study of his great predecessor Nathaniel Hawthorne. Octavo, original scarlet cloth. In very good condition with light rubbing. Edited by John Morley.

First American edition of this terse and startling novel, written just before The Spoils of Poynton and What Maisie Knew, is the story of a struggle for possession—and of its devastating consequences.. Octavo, original cloth. In very good condition.

Price:
$550.00

First American edition of this dark comedy, which Henry James considered his finest work. Octavo, original cloth, gilt topstain. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light toning to the spine. A nice example.

Price:
$45.00

First edition of the of James’ stage presentation of his classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “For an unknown friend Henry James March 8th 1905.” In near fine condition with light rubbing. This example was signed by James on his American tour in 1905. Housed in a custom cloth clamshell box. Rare and desirable signed.

First illustrated edition of James’ classic account of his six-week tour to provincial France between 1883 and 1884. Octavo, original illustrated cloth, gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panel, top edge gilt, frontispiece of Old Street, Dijon with tissue guard present. Illustrated by Joseph Pennell. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the crown and foot of the spine. A beautiful example.

Price:
$75.00

First British edition of this book of travel writing, wonderfully illustrated by Joseph Pennell. Quarto, original cloth, gilt pictorial stamped to the front panel, gilt titles to the spine, top edge gilt. Illustrated by Joseph Pennell with 32 color plates, with tissue guards. In very good condition with light rubbing to the extremities.

First edition of one of James’ best-known longer novellas, based on the letters from Percy Bysshe Shelley to his second wife Mary Shelley’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, whom he was known to have had several affairs with. Octavo, original illustrated cloth, gilt titles and tooling to the spine. In very good condition with light rubbing and wear to the spine.

First edition of the first volume of Henry James’ autobiography. Octavo, original cloth, frontispiece, tissue guard. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper in the year of publication, “To dear Gilliard Lapsley Henry James April 5th 1913.” The recipient, Gilliard Lapsley was a young historian with whom James became friends (Leon Edel, Letters p. 28). Bookplate, near fine condition with light rubbing. Rare and desirable signed and inscribed by James.

First American edition of James’ account of his trip throughout the United States between 1904 and 1905. Original blue cloth, gilt tooling to the front panel and spine. In very good condition. A nice example.

Limited Artists’ Book edition of Henry James’ The Last of the Valerii. Number 46 of one hundred numbered copies printed on Wookey Hole handmade paper by John Baskett in 16 point Blado italic font, the same font used in the original publication in The Atlantic Monthly for January 1874. Frontispiece by Julia Trevelyan Oman. Octavo, gilt title and tooling spine and front panel. In fine condition.

Price:
$6,200.00

First edition of the second novel in Kennedy’s Albany cycle. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “For Lee and Laurie, who have watched the game from a ringside seat, with good will and love, Bill”, additionally signed by Kennedy on the half-title page. Near fine in a very good dust jacket with wear and chips to the extremities. A nice inscription.